Saudis release Indonesian maids on death row

JAKARTA: Two Indonesian domestic workers sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft against their employers’ families in Saudi Arabia returned home yesterday after their sentences were commuted, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said. Sumartini and Warnah arrived in Jakarta after serving more than 10 years in a Saudi prison, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, a senior official at the ministry, told AFP. Sumartini was accused of making the 17-year-old son of her employer vanish by using black magic, although he was later found alive. Warnah, meanwhile, was accused of casting a spell against her employer’s first wife that made her suffer from mysterious illnesses, Indonesian media reported. – AFP